Midland Funding

Noting that Midland buys old debt it knows is not legally recoverable because of various state laws preventing collection after a number of years, Sotomayor asked, “Apparently, you collect on millions of dollars of these debts. So is that what you do?”

Yes. Yes it is.

This is a conversation every consumer lawyer has had many times with clients. No, you don’t owe the debt any more. Yes, they can still collect it. Yes, that’s fucked up.Apparently the Supreme Court just learned about zombie debt, and a few of the justices, at least, seem to agree that it’s pretty fucked up.

Minnesota consumer lawyer Randall Ryder got a $22,000+ Midland Funding debt collection lawsuit dismissed for a client who had been disputing the debt for years, but couldn’t make it go away. Says Ryder “Bringing the proverbial bazooka to a gunfight, we produced a 5 page affidavit with 70 pages of exhibits to prove the client was not liable.”

Last week, GMAC basically stopped evicting homeowners and foreclosing homes in 23 states when it got caught filing affidavits without any personal knowledge. That’s good news, but here’s what rubs me the wrong way: debt buyers do the same thing, and nobody seems to care.

Debt buyers may not have any evidence to support their collection lawsuits, but that does not stop them from harassing consumers. According to yesterday’s lead story in the Star Tribune, debt buyers bring lawsuits with nothing but a row of numbers passed along by the previous owner of the debt, then support them with bogus “proof.”

Some debt buyers take more extreme measures. Thomas Labeaux, owner of Debt Equities, apparently trapped a consumer in her driveway, pretending he was a sheriff and threatening to take her newborn into protective custody if she did not pay a debt.

On Tuesday, the FTC will hold a free roundtable in San Francisco, open to the public, on debt collection litigation and arbitration. The FTC is seeking public comments in advance of the event, and some of the existing public comments are, well, interesting.

Debt buyers Midland Credit Management, Asset Acceptance, and Portfolio Recovery Associates whine that they are subjected to a higher standard in litigation. I thought their public comments very funny, and very misleading.